CURE Examples
Discipline
Nature of Research
State
Target Audience
CURE Duration
Results 1 - 2 of 2 matches
Resequencing of Commercial Microorganisms
Jessica Kaufman, Endicott College
Students choose a probiotic pill or product with labeling that indicates the species and strain of bacteria in the product. Products are chosen so that a high quality reference genome sequence is available on NCBI. After DNA isolation and library preparation, high-quality student samples are pooled for next-gen sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq. The following semester, students in the required bioinformatics course will analyze the FASTQ files from the NGS run with a simple variant call workflow on usegalaxy.org. Then, each student will use a R Shiny app developed for this CURE to convert the VCF output from Galaxy to a FASTA file for an assigned gene in the resequenced genome. Students will complete their research experience by submitting the FASTA file to the NCBI Nucleotide Database.
Core Competencies: Planning and carrying out investigations, Using mathematics and computational thinking, Analyzing and interpreting data
Nature of Research: Wet Lab/Bench Research, Informatics/Computational Research
Target Audience: Major
CURE Duration: Multiple terms
Squirrels in the City: Urbanization in a Changing World
Christopher Thawley, University of Rhode Island
Our planet is undergoing a variety of changes due to human activity, including the expansion of cities across landscapes. However, urban environments are not wastelands but functioning ecosystems where organisms encounter a variety new conditions and potential challenges. One way that animals can respond to living in cities is by changing their behaviors. In this course, we will conduct an original research project exploring whether squirrels that live in urban habitats have changed their behaviors in predictable ways.
Core Competencies: Planning and carrying out investigations, Analyzing and interpreting data, Using mathematics and computational thinking, Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
Nature of Research: Field Research
Target Audience: Introductory
CURE Duration: A full term